Ep 113. Jessaiah Zure: Searching for Individuality in Turkish Romani Dance

Jessaiah Zure began bellydancing in 1997, studying primarily with Katarina Burda, and later with Jamila Salimpour. In 2004 she began her 10-year journey of living and studying on and off in Istanbul, where she studied Turkish Roman Dance primarily with Reyhan Tusuz. Jessaiah was Reyhan’s second ever “student”. As the years progressed, she met more people and danced and studied with many more dancers, including professionals, women in the kitchen, Anadolu Atesi dancers and more. The locals in Istanbul were amazed at Jessaiah’s natural familiarity with the music and dance. While she was there, Jessaiah was a featured dancer at many local events, weddings, shows, as well as written about in newspapers and asked to be in movies as a dancer.